Traditionally, repairmen and tradesmen have used electric lamps or portable handheld flashlights to illuminate dark or poorly lit work places to make repairs or perform various other types of work such as construction or automotive work. For example, plumbers are often required to enter crawl spaces to either connect new pipes or repair defective pipes. These crawl spaces are usually extremely dark. In order to easily view these pipes, plumbers will either use a handheld flashlight or an electric lamp requiring an independent source of electricity, i.e., an electrical outlet, to illuminate their places of work.
For many repairmen and tradesmen the use of a handheld flashlight often requires the assistance of a helper to hold the light and properly aim it on the given place of work. Thus, the trade skills of the helper may be rendered useless so long as he is required to hold and aim the flashlight. Other times, the repairman would lay the flashlight down on another object while aiming the beam of light on the area where he or she is performing his or her job. In this situation, the flashlight may often roll out of place causing the repairman to constantly re-aim the beam of light. Moreover, there may not even be an object available in which the flashlight may be properly set down upon.
On the other hand, many tradesmen often use an electrical lamp that includes a clamp attachment. Even though these lamps enable one to freely use both hands while having a source of light aimed at their place of repair, these lamps require an independent source of electricity which may not always be available. In addition these lamps are quite bulky and are difficult to attach in hard-to-reach places. These lamps also emit a source of light that is extremely hot and uncomfortable to work besides.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,684,374, 2,034,913 and 4,417,299 respectively show a flashlight, a hand lamp and a battery-powered light all attached to spring clamps. U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,580 shows two flashlights in a single handheld unit. In the cases noted above, none of these cited references set forth a portable, lightweight, battery-powered light which not only clamps onto a variety of objects, but which also consists of two independent sources of light integrally built into the clamp apparatus.
Accordingly, principle objectives of the present invention are to provide a portable, lightweight and easy to use clamp having two gripping jaws and a pair of longlasting, battery-operated flashlights integrally built into the jaws. In accomplishing those needs, the invention allows one to clamp and secure the apparatus in hard-to-reach places while aiming a dual source of light on a given work place and allowing the user to freely use both hands without the aid of an assistant.